Release
by JetWarrior
Summary: Buttercup discovers that even Bubbles sometimes needs to let off some steam...or might there be a deeper reason for her sister's moonlight training session? A rather dark two-shot with no romance, but lots of sisterly bonding. Rated 'T'.
1. Attack

_It's been a long, long, **long** time since I've posted a story here, but this one just popped into my head one day and refused to leave until I got it all out. This is a two-shot story featuring only Bubbles and Buttercup, and they are the same as they were in the show. It's rather dark, and I've never written a dark story on this site, so it might be a bit...rough. Still, I hope you enjoy it!  
_

_I don't own any of the characters that appear in this story._

* * *

Buttercup awoke with a start, eyes wide open and awake and alert, as though she had just come out of a nightmare...except she hadn't. She didn't know what exactly had woken her up, and the fact annoyed her-usually the girl slept like a rock through the whole night. She rolled over and looked at the clock next to her; 2:38 glared back in bright red numbers. Buttercup rolled back over and groaned - it would take her ages to get back to sleep. She stared at the ceiling a bit before deciding to get herself a glass of milk to help speed things along. She flipped the covers from on top of her and climbed out of bed, floated to the door and opened it carefully so as not to make too much noise, and stepped onto the balcony that overlooked her living room.

She never once noticed the unoccupied space in the middle of the bed.

* * *

They came at her in droves, attacking her from all directions, but she kept fighting. Her shirt was ripped across her back, the skin beneath scratched open and red with the threat of blood. Her blonde hair had long since been loosed of its usual pigtails; it crashed down towards her shoulders in a disheveled heap, wet with sweat and darkened with debris. Her face wore a fierce snarl as she concentrated on all enemies coming her way while also trying to come up with a way to make it to the big creature who kept spawning these things. She wasn't used to taking on an assault like this alone. She didn't have her sisters here to back her up, to help her-it was just her and them.

And it was her choice for it to be that way. She needed this.

The creatures looked to be mounting another attack, but she wasn't going to wait for them. Steeling herself, she flew straight up from off from the ground, just as they lunged at the spot she used to be. Those creatures that were able to fly went after her; the rest followed her flight path on the ground, waiting for her to come back down again. Still, as she could out-fly the beasts, this bought her a bit of time to think of a course of action.

She looked back at the hoard of beasts flying after her and found that they were falling behind. She looked forward, about to breathe a sigh of relief, when she realized that there was a second group of monsters directly in front of her, heading her off. They attacked her before she could maneuver away, dragging her back towards the ground and all the creatures waiting hungrily below.

* * *

Downstairs in the kitchen, Buttercup grabbed herself a cup, opened the refrigerator and pulled out the gallon jug of milk. She put everything back up after pouring herself a glass, then sat at the table and drank in the dark. The girl stared absently, taking a sip periodically and listening to the silence...and then she realized that it wasn't absolutely silent. There was noise coming from...somewhere, Buttercup wasn't quite sure. It was soft, as though someone had left the television on in a far-off room. Perhaps that's exactly what had happened; she decided to investigate.

Leaving her unfinished milk on the table, Buttercup floated out of the kitchen and looked around the living room. Everything was all quiet here, but the noise was just a tad bit louder. Focusing her hearing, she noticed that the sound was coming more from her right. She looked in that direction to see a door ajar, and a faint light coming from inside.

The Professor's lab.

Buttercup wondered if the Professor was downstairs performing an experiment...but no, he wouldn't be, he had to be up early the next morning. So why would the door be open? There were very few explanations for it, and only one that made any sense: thieves. Narrowing her eyes, Buttercup slowly proceeded to the door, staying cautious and alert as she slowly opened it wider and looked down the stairs in front of her. It sounded like there was definitely a rustling of some sort going on down there. Readying herself for a confrontation, Buttercup crossed the threshold and floated silently down, watching for any movement, the light getting brighter as she made her way to the floor.

She almost called out, "Show yourself!" to the possibly-hidden intruders, but she saw right away that it wasn't thieves making the noises, nor were it flashlights that provided the glow. In fact, both were coming from the Danger Grid, the high-tech combat training simulator that the girls used to hone their fighting skills when Townsville's criminals decided to take a week off. It was currently in use...and as Buttercup floated up to the large viewing window, the shock of what was going on inside was enough to steal her breath away.

* * *

She writhed and struggled in their grasp, but found it exceedingly difficult to pull away. This wasn't happening! Was it really going to end this way? Was she going to _let it_ end this way? No...she couldn't. She wouldn't. Not after what had happened today. Not after the shame and guilt. If it ended now, with the creatures victorious, there would be no way she could deal with the grief; she would suffocate under its weight. No, she had to survive. She had to succeed. She had to have this release. Only then, she knew, would she be free of her terrible deed.

She thought of what she had done, of the moral crime she had committed. The look on his face. The rage in her mind. And the guilt afterwards. And with an anguished cry, she released it all upon the creatures that now surrounding her, biting and clawing at every inch of her body.

They never stood a chance.

* * *

Buttercup's jaw had been wide open since she began looking into the simulator, but what happened next was enough to elicit a loud gasp from the normally stoic girl. It was enough of a surprise to see that it was Bubbles, her normally bright and happy-go-lucky sister, who had activated the machine and was currently inside fighting a huge number of what looked to be ant/dragon hybrid monsters. Some of the monsters had wings and could fly, others could not, but all of them looked to be tracking her. She was flying through the air when she ran into a group of them, who took her back down to the ground.

The thing that made Buttercup gasp, though, was what had happened next. In what looked to be an extraordinary release of internal energy, Bubbles's laser eye beam shot straight up through the crowd of monsters around her, and then, after letting loose a near-primal scream, the girl herself had burst from the midst of the pile, flying straight up with creatures hanging on. She then did a complete mid-air one-eighty and shot herself straight back down into the hoard.

Then the carnage began.

Very rarely had Buttercup ever witnessed her blue-clad sister fight with the sheer intensity that she was currently fighting with, but each time she had seen it, she had been awed...and this time was no exception. Bubbles tore through the monsters like a force of nature, punching and kicking and flinging bodies away from her without regard. One had been eye-beamed to the point of exploding; another had been punched into a third with enough force to knock both of them through a building. The more that came upon her, the harder she fought, until the smaller creatures were being destroyed faster than the big monster in the middle could spawn them. Through the entire fight, Bubbles kept the same look of righteous fury and...something else, Buttercup noticed. She couldn't place it, but the look on Bubbles's face oddly reminded her of herself, and the way her sister fought had stirred something inside of her; something familiar, something that told her that Bubbles wasn't in the simulator simply to train.

The onslaught was nearly done; a few more punches took care of the last of them. Bubbles looked as though she had been through hell-scratches lined her legs and arms, and she had a nasty bruise forming on her neck. Her hair, frizzy and loose, was matted with the blood of the dozens of monsters she had just obliterated. Her eyes were red, and her face wore a look that could have melted steel. Buttercup watched her sister, wanting to help her, or end it before she got hurt, but she didn't move from her spot at the window. She didn't know why, but she felt it would be a great disservice to her sister to interfere with this exercise in any way.

Besides...with the look her sister gave the gigantic dragon ant queen right as she flew towards it, she knew it would be over soon.

* * *

The battle had been intense.

There were bodies strewn everywhere. Creatures were bleeding into the street; body parts were scattered everywhere. And in the middle of it all stood one small blue-eyed Powerpuff, panting heavily, a very unfamiliar snarl on her face, reveling in the carnage if only because it helped relieve her own internal grief. She wasn't finished, however; there was still the matter of the queen beast which stood looming ominously over the buildings in the center of the shattered virtual town, an abominable hybrid of nature that mixed a dragon's head, body and wings with a queen ant's gigantic egg sac. The battle wasn't over until that monster was dead. She wouldn't stop fighting until then anyways; only then might she be able to rest peacefully.

She flew straight towards the thing, the adrenaline pumping through her body willing her to ignore the pain that she was in. She had to hit it hard and fast; the beast spat out a sac full of smaller monsters from its ant-like abdominal egg sac every half-minute or so, ready and raring to attack and keep their queen safe. Bubbles wouldn't give it the chance to make any more.

There was no plan of attack - she just wanted to hit it with everything she had. The dragon half of the monster began spewing fire in her direction, but with a great effort, she flew through it, letting it fuel her rage. She flew all the way up to the creatures face, and with an ear-splitting scream, she released one huge punch to the monster's jaw, hard enough to get the monster to stop spewing fire and rear back from recoil. Images began flashing in the girl's mind-a human jaw, dislocated after she had punched it. She couldn't get the image out of her mind...she hadn't meant to...**no**. She wouldn't let it break her focus now.

She attacked with renewed fervor, hitting any part of the monster she could reach. Each strike sent another picture into her mind-black eye...loose tooth...broken rib...dislocated shoulder...all her doing. She couldn't get the thoughts to stop! She punched harder, and tears started rolling down her cheeks. The monster had all but lost by now, but she wouldn't relent; it had to be this way, she had to get this out now. Punch, kick; he pleads, she denies. The tears fell freely.

She grabbed the queen by its neck, like she had done with him. She flew up into the air with her, like she had done with him. She contemplated how she could finish it, like she had done with him. Did he deserve it? Yes, she was certain...but it wasn't her place. She had barely gotten control of herself with him; the monster was not so lucky.

Grasping its neck with both hands, and with one final, anguished cry of effort, she flipped the dragon over her shoulder and slammed it as hard as she could into the ground. Its neck snapped; its egg sac exploded; its body laid still. The battle was over; the virtual world disappeared, leaving only the white grid in the room.

The tears were still rolling down her face when Bubbles fell to her knees, head hung low and shoulders bobbing as she silently sobbed.

* * *

Buttercup couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. She could not remember ever seeing her sister fight with the ferocity that she had just seen (though there were a couple of times she had seen the aftermath of such battles). But even before Bubbles had started to shed tears, Buttercup had recognized that she was being driven by something more than just a fighting spirit-there was something that Bubbles couldn't escape that had driven her down here tonight. Buttercup knew, because she herself had done it plenty of times before. She was used to using fighting as a way to let off steam. It was strange, though, seeing the same emotions drive her sister, who usually had no problem whatsoever expressing what was on her mind. What had caused Bubbles so much stress that she couldn't simply let it out as she always did? If the emotions that had shown across her face while she fought had been any indication, it had to have been something massive.

Even though she knew it had to happen (for whatever reason), Buttercup couldn't bear watching her sister suffer under so much emotional stress. She looked for anything else to look at; her eyes eventually traveled down at the control console in front of the window that allowed one to manipulate the virtual environment inside. There was a dial on the board that controlled the level of danger that each simulation possessed. Buttercup gasped for what had to have been the fifth time that night.

The dial was currently set to Danger Level 15.

Buttercup herself had only gotten past level 12 earlier that week! Levels this high were usually only attempted when all three of the girls went into the Danger Grid together as a team, and yet here Bubbles finished it on her own. The raven-haired girl looked back at her sister. How many times had she come down here to be at the level she was at now? She certainly didn't attempt anything so difficult while her family was around, which means she had to have been coming down here pretty regularly to practice (hopefully Bubbles didn't just jump into lv. 15 without knowing what she was getting into).

Wait...Buttercup had already surmised that it wasn't practice that drove her sister to enter the Danger Grid, but some unknown, yet very powerful emotional force; an emotional force strong enough to help push Bubbles to defeat monsters that may have otherwise been out of her league. And this probably wasn't her first time down here...

Buttercup looked back at her sister, who had finally calmed herself with a deep breath and looked to be getting ready to exit the room. Her expression was rather blank, showing no hints whatsoever of either the intense fury or the immense sadness that had be prevalent not five minutes ago.

This wasn't good. Buttercup knew all too well where this road led, and it wasn't to a place of relief. She didn't want her normally joyful sister to have to deal with that; she wanted to pull her back and set her right before it was too late.

It was time for another heart-to-heart, Buttercup realized. At least she wasn't apologizing for anything this time.

Her eyes were drawn to the door of the training room as Bubbles emerged back into the lab, looking just as disheveled as she had while fighting. She appeared to be heading straight for the stairs out of the lab when Buttercup finally made her presence known.

"That was some battle you just fought," she called out.

Bubbles stopped and turned suddenly to face her green-clad sister. Buttercup smirked - it must've been quite a surprise to Bubbles to know that her sister had been watching her the whole time. She stared at Buttercup with the classic dear-in-headlights look of someone whose secret had just been found out. The shock silenced her, so Buttercup took the opportunity to walk up to her as she continued to stand motionless.

"Yeah, I was watching the whole time. Well...most of the time. But I saw enough, and I know that you don't fight like that unless you're really upset. So...you wanna...I don't know, talk about it or something?"

Buttercup wasn't good at the being the supportive sister, but she felt that this time, she might actually be the right person to help Bubbles with whatever it was that was bothering her. Bubbles still hadn't spoken, however.

"I'll take that as a yes," Buttercup answered for her. "Go get cleaned up, then meet me in the kitchen. I've got a glass of milk to finish..."

* * *

_That's the first chapter. The second one is already completed-I'll put it up soon. I'm really, **really** interested in what you have to say about this-any comments and criticisms can only help me get better at this type of story. Whether or not you review, though, thank you for reading!_


	2. Release

_The second and final chapter of the story has very little action, but is just as emotional and dark as the first, if not more. And if the first chapter didn't convince you of this story's "T"-rating, this one certainly will. Either way, I hope you enjoy it!_

I own not the characters or locations in this story, only its plot.

* * *

The moonlight filtering through the blinds of the window above the sink was the only thing illuminating the kitchen as the two sisters sat at the table, both with a glass of milk in front of them - one cold, one warm.

Buttercup observed her sister as Bubbles took a sip at her cup. She had taken a short shower to soothe her injuries and straighten out her hair, which was now back in its trademark twin pigtails (she thankfully didn't have to worry about the debris and monster blood that had caked her hair while she was fighting, as they were holographic, and so had disappeared when the simulation ended). She had also changed back into her pajamas, as her regular clothes had been ripped beyond repair (a result, unfortunately, that was _not_ holographic, and so remained even after the fight was over). When she made it back to the kitchen, Buttercup watched as she poured a glass of milk, warmed it up, and sat at the chair to her right, the moon casting soft, dramatic shadows across her tired face as she gazed miles away at nothing.

Not once since leaving the basement had Bubbles said a single word. Buttercup figured it would be up to her to break the silence.

"How long have you been going down in the lab to train at night?" she asked.

Bubbles seemed a bit startled to have been brought back to the present so suddenly, but the surprise lasted only a moment before she answered quietly.

"I don't know...every few days for a few months now, I guess." Her voice sounded a bit hoarse...probably from screaming so much while fighting, Buttercup noted. Maybe that's why she had warmed her milk before drinking it.

"A few months, really? You've been doing it for that long? Why?"

"Uhhhh...I just wanted to do some training. To, you know, push myself to become a better fighter..."

The way Bubbles avoided Buttercup's eye alerted her to the fact that Bubbles wasn't telling her the whole truth.

"Push yourself to be a better fighter, eh? And I guess tonight was just another routine all-out battle? Riiiiiight..."

"It's the truth-"

"I don't buy it," Buttercup countered. "Something's bothering you...something happened or someone said something or you did something that's been eating away at you, and you were trying to get it out of your mind."

Bubbles head snapped towards Buttercup at the accusation.

"Nothing's bothering me!" She said it a bit too fast and at a slightly higher pitch than usual.

"Don't give me that," Buttercup said, her own voice getting an edge to it. "I know you better than you think. That fight I saw in there? That wasn't a training exercise. The way you fought...there was no focus, no plan of attack - that was 100% raw, unhinged emotion driving you. So fess up—what's wrong?"

"I told you, nothing's wrong," Bubbles snapped at Buttercup. "Why do you even care?"

"Because," Buttercup spoke in a calmer voice than she had been using, "I'm worried about you. It's not like you to do something like this. _I'm_ the one who fights to let off steam, not you. And I know that it had to have been something really intense if you had to fight monsters in order to let it out. I really hope it wasn't anything I did; if it was, I'm...I'm sorry. But I'm worried about you because I know where this road will lead. And I know that there are better ways to relieve stress than by fighting.

"More than anything, though," she took a deep breath before speaking, "I care because I'm your sister, and I don't like it when you feel bad. I just want to help you get over whatever it is so that you can go back to being happy again."

Buttercup finished her milk in one last gulp. Bubbles was silent, watching her sister as she put her glass in the sink and headed for the doorway out the kitchen.

"I won't force it out of you, though. Just...if you ever do want to talk about it, whenever, I'll listen."

She almost made it to the door and was about to call out "Good night," when Bubbles stopped her.

"Wait!" Buttercup turned around. Bubbles looked at her with a gaze that, to Buttercup, looked very vulnerable.

"What did you mean when you said you knew where this road will lead? What road?"

"What road? Well..." Buttercup began slowly walking back towards the table as she spoke. "You fight monsters to relieve stress or whatever, right? They're just monsters - they're not real, you're not hurting anybody, and it feels good. You feel alive, and when it's over, you feel much better than when you started. That'll last a good while...but sooner or later, there'll be some times when it's just not enough. You'll fight, you win, and you'll still be upset by whatever was bothering you. And it won't go away in your sleep, and it'll still be there when you wake up, and you won't even notice that it's still affecting you, but it will be. You'll hit a bad guy one too many times or kick him just a little too hard. You'll start snapping at the people you love...without even meaning to. And if it goes on too long...you'll do _anything_ to let off steam. And _anything_ might set you off. You won't be able to tell the difference between fake monsters and real people. You might do something you'll regret. It'll happen eventually…I know all too well that it will."

Buttercup was back at the table by the time she finished speaking, mind reeling back to her own personal experiences. She had exposed a bit of her own soul, a part that she wasn't proud of...but if it could help Bubbles, she'd expose it and everything else.

And she would have, too, had Bubbles not brought her back to reality. She had begun crying again, only this time she was shaking as though she were frightened.

"Oh, Buttercup," she spoke with a watery voice, "it may be too late for me already!"

Buttercup, shocked as she was to hear Bubbles's declaration, felt she was finally about to get to the root of the problem.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

Bubbles answered her with a sob. Buttercup waited patiently. Usually, she would've told her to spit it out, but she knew she had to tread lightly here. She may not have been used to taking on the 'supportive sister' role, but seeing the state that her sister was in was enough for her to try and take up the mantle.

Bubbles sniffed and took in a deep breath to collect herself before she spoke.

"Well...see...okay, you're right, the real reason I go down into the basement is to get rid of stress. I mean, whenever there's something negative that's bothering me that I can't just get rid of by crying or screaming or painting or coloring or anything like that, I go down there."

Buttercup had guessed right. Whenever there was a negative emotion that Bubbles couldn't handle in any of her usual ways, she went down there to fight it out. It seemed very out-of-character for her sister, though.

"Where'd you get the idea to do that?"

"From you," she answered, "because I've seen when you are having a bad day, you fight monsters and then you feel better again. And...well, I've actually done it before, a long time ago. That time, I was really mad at you and Blossom for teasing me, and I went downstairs that night, just to prove that I could do it. But...it felt good to fight and let it out."

Buttercup remembered that ordeal. She had never seen their arch nemesis Mojo Jojo destroyed so badly in all the fights they've ever had with him (save the time he stole their candy). But even still, that episode served to highlight exactly what was so dangerous about Bubbles doing what she was doing-Buttercup remembered random citizens being punished for minor crimes, Bubbles snapping at her and Blossom, and one poor talking dog.

That had been about Bubbles proving herself, though - when she felt she had done that, she reverted back to her old self and never looked back. Now, however, it was about relieving stress and releasing emotional build-ups, and that was a much dangerous path because there might not be an end to it if left unchecked.

Feeling she was almost there, Buttercup spoke again.

"I remember that, actually," she chuckled lightly. "But that was a long time ago. You said you'd done this plenty of times since then...so what brought you down there tonight?"

Bubbles face dropped, and she got that vulnerable look that Buttercup noticed a while ago. But she spoke up.

"Tonight? Ummm...well...I was...I...I did something today. Something not good. Something I couldn't deal with, and it wouldn't leave my head, and I just had to find a way to get it out."

She started breathing a little harder, and Buttercup could almost see the fear radiating off of her.

"It's all right, Bubbles," she said to her sister, touching her shoulder. "You don't have to tell me if you don't want to."

"No!" Bubbles looked to be trying to steel herself for a monumental task. "I'll tell you."

And she told Buttercup the story. She told her how she was out on patrol over the suburbs listening for anyone that might need help. How she heard the scream of the little boy from inside the house. How she flew through the roof, expecting to see a fire or something destroyed. How she instead saw a bruised and bloodied young boy cowering on the ground; a boy she knew, who she recognized from class...a boy who liked to eat paste. How she had seen the boy's father glowering ominously above him, advancing towards him, his hand balled into a fist. How she looked back between the father's angry snarl and the boy's petrified gaze and put two and two together. She told her how, just as he was about to strike again, she snatched that boy's father and held him up off the ground. How she hit him harder than she had ever hit a human in her entire life. How she could see nothing but red as she repeatedly hit him over and over again, breaking his jaw, dislocating his shoulder, sending teeth flying. How he begged her to stop. How she had just kept going. How she lifted him up by his neck. How she contemplated things that she never would've guessed she would even be able to contemplate.

She told her how it took all of her will power not to do what she though the man deserved to be done to him. And how, when it was all said and done and the man was out cold, she had turned to the boy and found that he was looking at her with that same frightened look that he had when his dad had loomed over him.

Bubbles had never, in her entire life, felt guilt that heavy.

"I took him to the hospital, and left his dad for the police," she continued, with that same miles-away gaze Buttercup had seen earlier. "The doctors say that Elmer's going to be okay. But I don't think I'll ever be able to forget what I saw. I never knew people did that to their kids. It was part of the reason I went down there tonight, because I couldn't get it out of my mind. But that wasn't the main reason…."

Bubbles paused, and then looked at Buttercup with a desperate expression and fresh tears in her eyes.

"Buttercup, don't you see? I almost broke the one single rule that every superhero in the history of superheroes lives by! The one thing that keeps us from being evil! I...I really thought about it. I almost did it. I almost...I almost...ki..."

Bubbles put her head down on the table, unable to continue. Buttercup didn't blame her. There was no way she could've guessed that it was something that heavy that weighed on Bubbles's mind. In all their time as superheroines, none of the girls had ever seen anything close to what Bubbles had today. True evil - not a mad monkey destroying property to take over the world, but someone physically hurting someone that they were supposed to love unconditionally. Buttercup remembered what it felt like when they thought the Professor didn't love them anymore; they had exiled themselves from Earth because they couldn't handle being there without him to care for them. And then, she imagined what it might feel like to have the Professor not only not love them, but actively try to hurt them. Buttercup couldn't fathom it. And that it was happening to Elmer! Their own classmate! She had no idea that he had been dealing with something like. And had she been the one to stumble upon it, had she been in Bubbles's position...

Buttercup's thoughts were interrupted when her sister suddenly began speaking again.

"I went to the training room tonight because I felt so ashamed of what happened, and it wouldn't go away. All day, I've been thinking about what I almost did, and...and what it might mean." Bubbles paused just for a second.

"Buttercup...am I a villain? Am I...am I a monster?"

Buttercup couldn't take it. She looked into Bubbles's eyes, with tears shining anew in the moonlight, and proceeded to give her the biggest hug she knew how to give. She let Bubbles sob on her shoulder as she rubbed her back and stroked her hair. After about a minute, she pushed Bubbles back a bit while keeping her hands on her shoulders, so that she could look directly at her.

"NO. No, you are not a villain, Bubbles, and you are not a monster. If anyone's the monster, it's Elmer's dad! I can't believe that he would do that to anybody, let alone his own son! Poor Elmer...I would have never guessed. I bet that's why he looked so scared—I don't think it was because he was afraid of what you were about to do, but more like he was afraid because you had just found out his secret. You probably had a similar look on your face when you saw that I found out your secret tonight. And believe me when I say that that guy is _lucky_ that it was you who found out. Had it been me who had seen it, or maybe even Blossom...well, let's just say his luck may have run out _forever_. But no, you're not evil. Not by a long shot...I think the fact that you held back at all says enough. I wouldn't have thought twice about it."

It was the truth. Even as Buttercup was saying it, an intense anger at Elmer's father arose in her, as well as a great sadness for Elmer himself. He was timid and shy to begin with; now she knew why. How would she treat him, knowing what she knew now? But that was a problem for another day; Buttercup had to get a grip on herself if she wanted to help Bubbles through this.

"But you probably would've been able to deal with it," Bubbles spoke again. "I couldn't...it's been tearing me apart inside. How do you do it? I mean...whenever you do something you regret, how do you get over it?"

Buttercup let go of Bubbles and sat back down in her chair.

"How do I get over it? Well, like I said, I used to use fighting to get over my stress, because it felt good to fight villains who I felt deserved it anyways. Then you guys said that I was becoming too violent, so I learned other ways. A great man taught me how to meditate to remain calm and reel in my emotions, and how to keep a positive attitude about things. He taught me to do things in moderation, and not to revel in fighting...so I try not to anymore."

Bubbles looked surprised.

"…You meditate?" Buttercup chuckled and nodded.

"Yeah. Whenever there's something negative that's bothering me that I can't just get rid of by crying or screaming or painting or coloring or anything like that, I go to the roof and meditate." She repeated Bubbles's words with a playful smirk, and it managed to get Bubbles to crack her first smile of the night. "I could show you how if you wanted to learn..."

Bubbles answered playfully, "Yeah, I'd like that. If it could get you to calm down, it'll definitely be good enough for me!"

"Ha, ha," Buttercup replied, sticking out her tongue. "Of course, I still do enjoy kicking butt. A lot. I just don't do it as stress relief anymore. But I'd be willing to spar with you if there's something so bad that meditation won't be enough. I think it'll be better that way, anyways, because you're fighting a real person instead of fake monsters, and it'll be me, so we can talk about it afterwards."

Bubbles smile grew wider.

"Yeah...I think I'd like that, too. You could even teach me how to fight better!"

Buttercup laughed. "Or vice-versa." Bubbles looked confused.

"You just beat level 15 downstairs! I barely beat level 12 not too long ago. Since when were you able to fight so good, and why didn't you tell me!"

Bubbles, for her part, actually looked a bit sheepish.

"Oh...yeah...heh heh...I told you I've been going down there for the past few months. Usually, I only beat the level when I'm feeling really, really bad about something. If I'm just mad or sad and that's it, I lose most of the time. So maybe I'm just getting lucky."

"Or maybe you've been holding out on me this whole time. I guess now I'll be able to find out." Buttercup's voice, which she had purposely tuned to try and lighten the mood, turned more serious.

"But more than anything, Bubbles, I just want you to know that I'll always be here for you, and Blossom will too. If something's bothering you, just talk to us about it. It doesn't have to be right away, it can be whenever you're ready, but just don't let it sit in your mind for too long. And please promise me you'll stop going to the basement at night for anything other than just to train."

Bubbles stared at her sister for a bit, thinking off-handedly that Buttercup had never seemed older than she had at that moment. She cracked another smile.

"Okay, Buttercup, I promise. And thank you...for everything." And she returned the hug her sister had given her before.

"Anytime. And I mean it. Now come on...it's too early in the morning for this much drama!" Bubbles chuckled.

The two sisters rose from the table. Bubbles rinsed her glass and set it in the sink, and the pair of them floated back upstairs to their bedroom. They found Blossom stirring awake when they entered.

"Girls, it's...almost 4:00 a.m. Why are you up?" She asked in a groggy voice. Bubbles and Buttercup looked at each other and smiled.

"Couldn't sleep."

"Got milk."

"Feeling better."

"Good night!"

Blossom shook her head and nestled back into her pillow again. Bubbles and Buttercup crawled into bed themselves and exchanged good-nights before drifting off to sleep.

Neither one of them could remember having a more peaceful slumber.

* * *

_And there it is. I apologize if Bubbles or Buttercup were too OOC. I did try to get them as right as I could, but I wonder if it was believable. As I said, I've never written a dark story before, so any comments and/or criticisms will be **greatly** appreciated. And while I do accept and welcome anonymous reviews, I can only answer you back if you sign in ;-)._

_Above all, thank you so much for reading! Please do review, as it's the only way I can get better!_


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